The present invention relates to the field of lawn and garden applications. Particularly, the present invention is directed to an oscillating sprinkler with a pattern select feature.
Various oscillating sprinkling systems are known in the art. Typically, these sprinklers provide an oscillating motor coupled to a tube having spray outlets disposed thereon. As the tube oscillates, the spray pattern moves back and forth to water a selected area of lawn. The range of back and forth movement determines the length of the watering area, and the position and orientation of the spray outlets defines the width of the watering area. Some current systems allow the range of oscillation to be adjusted to set the length of the desired watering area. In addition, certain prior systems have developed methods for adjusting the width of the spray area. However these prior art width-control systems suffer from certain disadvantages, including complexity of construction and assembly that increases manufacturing costs.
For example, certain of the prior art systems require sleeves having various nozzle-blocking patterns on them. These sleeves are mounted over the spray tube and can be rotated over some of the spray outlets, thereby adjusting the width of the spray pattern. However, if the fit between the sleeve and the spray tube is not precisely maintained, leakage occurs, diminishing the effectiveness of the system by allowing a spray pattern beyond the desired width. Leakage around the sleeve contributes to reduced water pressure to the working nozzles and puddling around the sprinkler which can have an undesired effect on the area being watered.
Other prior art sprinklers provide multiple sets of nozzles of different widths that can be selected by some adjustment of a sprinkler spray tube. However, these prior art designs typically require complex construction of the water flow tube body that is expensive and difficult to manufacture. Therefore, what is needed is an oscillating sprinkler that provides a simple water tube construction and a stepwise incremental adjusting feature allowing for a pre-selected width of a watering area.